Abstract
Data Availability Statements in Health Research in Articles and Journal Policies in Korea
Sue Kim,1 Soo Young Kim,2 Hyun Jung Yi3
Objective
Data sharing is strongly recommended for replicability, trustworthy findings, and generation of new hypotheses.1 Although a data availability statement (DAS) reveals whether data are shared and how to access data, little is known on DAS patterns. This study aimed to evaluate the proportion of articles presenting a DAS according to journal policies in Korea.
Design
This cross-sectional study was conducted from July 2024 to January 2025. Articles in KoreaMed member journals published in 2023 were randomly selected (5%) by generating random numbers using the RANDBETWEEN function in Microsoft Excel 2021. The inclusion criterion was human studies in Korean or English. Narrative reviews, letters, editorials, or case studies were excluded. Selected articles (600 of 12,000) were evaluated by the following parameters: presence of a DAS, its appropriateness, and whether the journal has a DAS policy statement. The research design, adherence to the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) clinical trials data sharing requirement,2 mention of reporting guidelines in the journal’s guidelines, and health discipline were also assessed as related factors. Two researchers independently reviewed the full text and discussed for consensus, using the Design Algorithm for Medical Literature on Intervention tool3 to determine study design.
Results
After excluding irrelevant articles, 243 articles (including surveys, cohort studies, randomized clinical trials [RCTs], systematic reviews, and integrative reviews) were identified from 126 journals; 74 journals (58.7%) had a DAS policy and 155 articles (63.8%) were published in such journals. Of these, however, 96 articles (61.9%) did not comply with the journal’s policy of specifying data sharing. Of the 243 articles, only 67 (27.6%) articles (from 35 journals) presented a DAS, of which 19 (28.4%) were inappropriate, 41 (61.2%) were generic cliché statements, and only 4 (6%) provided a hyperlink to the data. Of the 74 journals with a DAS policy, 7 (9.5%) presented mixed results ranging from inappropriate to satisfactory DAS, suggesting the need for editorial consistency. Of the 16 experimental studies (from 13 journals), only 6 (3 RCTs, 3 non-RCTs) complied with ICMJE’s policy requiring a DAS, of which only 1 linked to a data registry. For observational studies, 58 of 216 (26.8%) presented a DAS. Journal policy on reporting guidelines (52 articles) was not significant for DAS or health discipline, but variation in the proportion of articles with an acceptable DAS was observable: 66% of articles from medicine (31), 67% from dentistry (2), 100% from nursing (9), and 75% from public health or nutrition (6).
Conclusions
Although roughly 62% of journals had a DAS policy, less than half of articles presented a DAS, with only 6% providing actual data. Given this gap, greater awareness of DASs among researchers and editorial consistency is needed, especially considering that ICMJE policy requires a DAS in clinical trials involving humans.
References
1. Hulsen T. Sharing is caring-data sharing initiatives in healthcare. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020;17(9):3046. doi:10.3390/ijerph17093046
2. Taichman DB, Sahni P, Pinborg A, et al. Data sharing statements for clinical trials: a requirement of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors. JAMA. 2017;317(24):2491-2492. doi:10.1001/jama.2017.6514
3. Seo HJ, Kim SY, Lee YJ, et al. A newly developed tool for classifying study designs in systematic reviews of interventions and exposures showed substantial reliability and validity. J Clin Epidemiol. 2016;70:200-205. doi:10.1016/j.jclinepi.2015.09.013
1College of Nursing, Mo-Im Kim Nursing Research Institute, Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea, suekim@yuhs.ac; 2Department of Family Medicine, Kangdong Sacred Heart Hospital, Hallym University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea; 3Medical Library, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Guri, South Korea.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures
None reported.
Funding/Support
This study was supported by the Korean Council of Science Editors.
Role of the Funder/Sponsor
The funder supported the costs of the research and was not involved in the planning, analysis, or interpretation of the results of the study.